N°303 Car Taurus Factory Team

MITCHELL GUTHRIE

(usa)

2023: 23rd T3 (5 stage wins)
2021: Ab. Stage 5
2020: Ab. Stage 7

2023: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (18th T3) / Sonora Rally (1st T3) / Desafio Ruta 40 (1st T3) / Rallye du Maroc (29th T3). W2RC : 2nd T3
2022: Rallye du Maroc (5th T3)
2021: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Ab.) / Andalucia Rally (14th T3)
2020: Andalucia Rally (13th T3)
2019 and 2018: King of the Hammer (UTV) / Mint 400 / Best in the Desert champion 2019
2017: Baja 1000 UTV / Mint 400

Interview

“Hopefully this year we’ll be able to take the win”

Mitchell Guthrie is none other than the son of the legendary racer Mitch Guthrie Senior. Mitch Junior succeeded his father in 2018 and 2019, after winning the WORCS Unlimited Series (2015), the UTV world championships (2016) and the Baja 1000, which he won in 2017, along with the Mint 400, all before his 22nd birthday. A competitive journey that the American could have continued without ever having left the United States. Instead, Mitch decided to take up the challenge proposed by the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team: the Dakar. On the first edition in Saudi Arabia, he won stage 4, before being forced to continue the adventure in the Dakar Experience category due to engine failure. He won two more stages and returned in 2021 only to lose more than four hours in stage 1 with punctures. This didn’t dampen the American’s enthusiasm and he showed he more than deserved his place by setting the third fastest outright time on stage 4 before suffering another engine problem. Mitch was counting on putting an end to his misfortune on the 2022 Dakar but tested positive for Covid just before leaving for Jeddah. Then after finishing 5th in class on the Rallye du Maroc, for the Andalucia Rally, Mitch switched to the brand new 2023 spec T3 built by the French MCE-5 team with the hugely experienced Kellon Walch as co-driver. The car performed well and had a further shakedown on the Dubai International Baja. Their 2023 Dakar started promisingly before stage 5 mechanical problems put paid to any hopes of victory, with stage 11 pushing them further down the field. However, a grand total of 5 stage wins was enough to warrant them and their car being entered into the entire 2023 W2RC series which they very nearly won, missing out on overall victory to Seth Quintero by an agonisingly small margin just 5 points.


Kellon Walch: “Last year’s Dakar wasn’t the result we wanted but the team improved the car everyday and our 5 stage wins proved what both we and the car were capable of. Hopefully this year we’ll be able to put it all together and take the win. It is everyone’s goal but we’re one of the favourites. That’s a little bit of pressure, but a good kind of pressure.”

Vehicle

Taurus Factory Team

TAURUS T3 MAX
RED BULL OFF-ROAD JR TEAM USA BY BFG

  • TAURUS
  • T3 MAX
  • MCE-5
  • MCE-5
  • T3.1: Lightweight Prototype Cross-Country

Ranking 2024

All news of M. Guthrie

Summary - 19/01 17:53 [GMT +3]

Dakar 2024: Brabec and Sainz, masters of the dunes

The 46th edition of the Dakar, the 5th to be organised in Saudi Arabia, has finished after more than 4,700 kilometres of specials and a total distance of almost 8,000 kilometres, which tested the riders, drivers, co-pilots and crews, from the ancient city of AlUla to the shores of the Red Sea, passing through the oceans of dunes in the Empty Quarter. The major winners of the 2024...

Summary - 18/01 18:48 [GMT +3]

Brabec and Sainz show who’s boss

FOCUS

The terrain proves decisive! With more than 4,700 kilometres of specials over two weeks of racing, it is still possible to predict where the victory will be won. The dunes of the Empty Quarter definitely played an important role, while the volcanic stones on the first stage also played a part. Indeed, we could list the damage recorded on each of the stages in one...

Summary - 17/01 17:25 [GMT +3]

Dakar 2024 - Stage 10 | When the going gets tough, the tough get going

FOCUS

Fresh memories never lie. Seeing the loop carved out near AlUla, starting and finishing at the bivouac where everyone had gathered less than two weeks ago, it was a given that this special was going to be a wild ride. The timed sector stretched for 371 kilometres on sandy terrain with a need for speed, either on the track or off-track, sometimes through rocky areas,...

Reactions - 16/01 17:35 [GMT +3] - Car

Mitchell Guthrie: “We’re still in a good position”

Even though he lost a little more than 5 minutes to Cristina Gutiérrez during the ninth stage which he finished in seventh place, Mitchell Guthrie still holds a solid lead in the Challenger category, with 28’35” now between the American and the Spaniard.

“Everyone was pushing really hard, so that definitely made it hard on...

Summary - 16/01 17:14 [GMT +3]

Van Beveren and Loeb go on all-out attack

FOCUS

The expedition back to AlUla has surely brought back some memories. However, it was not a return to square one, because the situation has evolved considerably since the prologue. The return journey spared the competitors from the volcanic rocks, instead opting for the northern route from Al Duwadimi, which nevertheless shared some common ground with the previous...

Reactions - 15/01 16:27 [GMT +3] - Car

Mitchell Guthrie: “I think we’ve kept ourselves in a good lead overall”

Mitchell Guthrie, second on the stage between Al Duwadimi and Hail, behind Saleh Alsaif, has consolidated his position as general rankings leader. There are now 34 minutes separating the American from Spain's Christina Gutiérrez.  

“It wasn’t a bad day. The stage was a lot of fun. It had a lot of sand and dunes at the beginning,...

Summary - 14/01 18:32 [GMT +3]

Three is the magic number for Cornejo and Loeb

FOCUS

Leaving aside the lousy navigators out there who manage to stretch the course like a rubber band, covering more than 850 km in a Dakar stage is something that happens once in a blue moon. It has only happened once in Saudi Arabia, in today's return to competition on the road from Riyadh to Al Duwadimi, clocking in at a whopping 874 km, following the prescribed route...

Reactions - 14/01 17:47 [GMT +3] - Car

Mitchell Guthrie: "Overall, it was good"

The disqualification of the Goczałs has played into Mitchell Guthrie's hands. The American won stage 7 and holds the overall lead ahead of Cristina Gutiérrez, now second at over half an hour from the Taurus driver.

"A good day. I'm really happy with how it went. Lots of navigation, like they were saying in the briefing, and we were on...

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